Word: men
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Morris' image of Reagan today, in decline under Alzheimer's, is poignant and surreal. "He will rake leaves from the pool for hours, not understanding that they are being surreptitiously replenished by his Secret Service men." When Reagan acknowledged his ailment in 1994, many who had been struck by his odd driftiness during the White House years began to wonder whether it had been the disease beginning its assault on his brain. Morris is adamant in opposing that view. "To those readers who will seize on this as evidence of incipient dementia in the White House, I reply...
Maybe, but Reagan was, by the accounts of those who worked most closely with him, one of the most passive and incurious men to ever occupy the Oval Office. During his first term, one of his closest advisers swore that on his own, Reagan could not have found the office of the White House chief of staff. Morris' reconstruction of the Iran-contra scandal paints a devastating picture of a floundering and uncomprehending Chief Executive...
...this is exactly what the Pulitzer-prizewinning journalist has done. With her new book, Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man (Morrow; 662 pages; $27.50), we meet men on the edge and over the edge: porn stars, hyperfanatical sports fans, wife beaters, gang bangers, a battle-weary parade of America's veritable down-and-outers. This is masculinity in crisis, all right, and Faludi, the author of Backlash, a 1991 best-selling study of feminism, wants to know why. Initially, she writes, her question was, "Why are so many men so disturbed by the prospect of women's independence...
...conclusions, of course, are debatable. Who, after all, set up and continues to dominate every last one of these hierarchical, market-driven institutions? And where, one does begin to wonder, are some of those men who have thrived under this system, who were well fathered and are themselves wonderful fathers, who participate usefully in the world around them? Surely, if she already believes that she can learn much from looking outside the mainstream, these men are no less meaningful than the subjects she chose...
...Stiffed is a brilliant, important book. Unlike Backlash, which felt at times like a compendium of statistics and a sweeping survey of popular culture, here Faludi's reportorial and literary skills unfold with a breathtaking confidence and beauty. These men talk to her as they have probably never talked in their lives before, and the rich and intricate tapestry she weaves from their stories is enough to make one rethink our entire Western value system. When she describes the family spirit and pride in their work of the men at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, shut down by the government...